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Soul Calibur II

Score:
9.5/10

Back
when the Dreamcast launched, gamers were almost honor bound to buy Soul
Calibur when they picked up the system.It wasn’t just an arcade port, it was better than the original
arcade version.Better
graphics, tons of extra modes, in a way Soul Calibur was an early death
nell for arcades in North America.So with that, Namco had a whole lot to live up to when they
finally decided to create a sequel to this runaway hit.Thankfully they’ve delivered, and the PS2 version stands
toe-to-toe with its next generation brethren in presenting a very tight
experience.

The
original Soul Calibur set the bar very high in what gamers will expect
in visual presentation from a game.The environments were fabulous, the characters details, and the
animation very tight.This
sequel picks up right where its predecessor left off, bringing some
beautiful arenas to fight in with oodles of detail and tasteful lighting
effect, absolutely gorgeous character designs that are also interesting
alternatives from what we came to expect after playing the original Soul
Calibur (the hybrid Seigfried/Nightmare design is especially neat), as
well as smooth tight animation.There
were a few instances where I came across a little bit of slowdown,
though.The game was going
full throttle at that point with the camera swooping around, lots of
animation in the background, and both characters launching long,
involved combos at one, lighting effects blazing the whole way, so it
does take quite a bit of punishment for Soul Calibur II’s graphics to
hit a speed bump, and as such it only happens on rare occasions.

The
audio holds up just as well as its visually stimulating cousin here,
with more sweeping orchestral themes just like the original Soul Calibur
had.The sweeping, epic
nature of the music really draws players into the game and is a nice
change of pace from the wanker rock and thumping house tunes you usually
come across in a fighting game.The
sound effects too are very well done, making the fighters’ weapons
that much more vicious thanks to their aural presence.The voice acting is pretty

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decent, with Heihachi’s really
standing out.He’s just
one mean bastard with that deep voice of his.The only thing that hurts the voice acting is that some of the
lines are really cheesy, especially when the fight is being announced
and the announcer chimes in with some weird, misplaced philosophical
diatribe.I'll chalk it up
to cultural differences, but the overall result is still a liberal dose
of hokiness.

So
we’ve established that it looks good and sounds good, but how does it
play?Fabulously, of
course.The layout of the
Dual Shock 2 compliments Soul Calibur II very nicely.Because SCII doesn’t inundate players with a million and one
buttons that need to be used, instead working with subtle nuances to
pull off the moves and combos.This
whole setup allows the game to be as simple or difficult as you like,
causing it to be a lot less intimidating to newcomers and chalk full of
depth for veterans.The
whole approach to controls allows the game to be accommodating to
newbies while not alienating the old timers.

SCII
is noticeably more difficult than the last game, making you really need
to work hard to win matches.In
the quest mode for SCII (called Weapons Master Mode), the harder levels
really are a challenge.Thankfully
the characters are relatively well-balanced, though, making it more a
matter of personal taste as to who to fight as.However, Nightmare is unusually strong and fast, making him an
easy choice for button-mashers and an easy source of frustration in
multiplayer mode.There are
also a number of new characters thrown into the mix like Necrid
(designed my Todd McFarlane), a strange beast with a morphing weapon,
Cassandra, pretty much Sophitia part 2, and of course there’s Heihachi
as the PS2 exclusive character.Now
with all of the attention that the Xbox and Gamecube has been getting
for their respective exclusive characters I was a bit disappointed to
hear the PS2 was getting Heihachi.It just didn’t feel as special as getting Spawn or Link, but
after spending quite a bit of time with the character he’s actually
pretty cool.He’s fast
and can dodge weapons quite well, and when you hear him talk you just
know he’s one bad-assed mofo.

What
made the first Soul Calibur really stand out is the sheer amount of
extra modes and goodies that were packed into it.SCII keeps this tradition going with 15 game modes and tons of
trinkets, not to mention weapons, to unlock.The extra modes add some nice variety, but most players will find
themselves trying to unlock new things in Weapon Master Mode or going
for a quick single or two-player match in arcade mode.It should also be noted that while there are tons of modes in
SCII they still don’t quite hold up to Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution,
whose sheer level of depth, what with character training, and a legion
of modes of its own still hails of reigning champ for extra play modes
in a fighting game at the moment.While
we were pretty much expecting new characters, arenas, costumes, and such
to be unlockable in the game, it came as a surprise to see that you can
also get a hold of new weapons for each of the fighters in SCII.Each has their own strengths and weaknesses that must be
considered before equipping, adding a tad more depth to the game.There’s also more variety in the hazards players have to deal
with in the arena, be it quicksand, strong winds, booby trapped walls
and floors, or passing a bomb back and forth like hot potato.

By
and large Soul Calibur II has managed to live up to expectations,
overcoming the daunting task of following in the footsteps of its
predecessor.Whether
you’re a fighting aficionado or a green rookie, there’s plenty to
enjoy about this game.